Half of the nearly two dozen Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans created by the Affordable Care Act have failed and won’t be offering health insurance in 2016. However, the nonprofit insurer created by the Connecticut State Medical Society is still in business.

The nonprofit insurer, HealthyCT, opened to Connecticut consumers for the first time in 2014 and will be offering plans for 2016.

...HealthyCT CEO Kenneth Lalime said the low market share ended up being helpful.

“Lower membership contributed in positive way to us not having that type of exposure,” Lalime said.

...But having a higher number of members exposed the company to a higher level of risk.

HealthyCT largely avoided that risk by building its membership slowly. After three years, it has 36,000 members and it has gone after the small and large group market in addition to the individual marketplace.

Before this current enrollment period, HealthyCT had 18 percent of the health insurance market on the exchange.

“Membership isn’t the ticket,” Lalime said. “Rapid membership growth can be difficult if you don’t have the right balancing of financing.”

Lalime credits the amount of financing HealthyCT received from the federal government as the number one reason it’s still in business.

In total, Lalime said the organization has received about $18 million for start-up costs and $108 million in solvency dollars, and remains “well capitalized.”

...Lalime said the question about why other co-cops failed where HealthyCT succeeded may simply be answered with mathematics.